Hello!
It’s been some time since I have worked on my Hestia Pi. I finally have an outlet to deploy this unit in and am excited to be back at it. I was looking over the new Touch One and saw the use of the new relays.
What are the advantages of the solid state relays versus the previously used JQC-3FF general purpose power relays?
I have the JQC-3FF relays on a couple of projects I have been working on.
I like the changes I see on the Touch One project!
Cheers!
Joe
Hello and welcome back,
Solid state relays have a longer life as they are purely electronic switches with no mechanical parts and they need no external components to interface with Pi. Standard relays like the one you mention need 3 additional components per relay (resistor, transistor and diode). When we moved to the latest design we had to go from 2 relays to 4 and move all components on one side. That left no real estate for all these. In addition the additional components had to be SMD which may not be everyone’s cup of tea.
There are still many differences but here are a few. If you are ok with the old design (aka 2 relay contacts are enough for your needs), there is no need to worry about being left behind.
Glad you like them 
Thanks for the explanation!